Paul Jennings – chief executive of Birmingham and Solihull CCG – wrote to Hammersmith and Fulham to lodge a formal objection to the expansion. He argued the digital service was “not yet robust or tested for a national service to be delivered from a single practice outside of Birmingham”.

Despite this, Babylon has launched a recruitment campaign in Birmingham and is holding events in the city this week where it hopes to entice GPs onto the platform, reports Pulse.

Paul Bate, Babylon’s director of NHS services, confirmed the company was recruiting in the city and that its intention remained to launch GP at Hand there.

Babylon’s plan was to establish a physical presence at Badger House, an out-of-hours GP services provider based in the inner-city area.

But these were put on ice after Hammersmith and Fulham CCG concluded there was “evidence of concern regarding the risk to patient safety”, adding that “further information is required to provide assurance on the safety of patients” before the Birmingham roll-out could be approved.